Best Life Sciences Companies in Berkeley, United States
The 109 best Life Sciences companies in Berkeley, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Pivot Bio.
Our analysis of 164 Life Sciences companies
$34.7b in tracked funding; 83% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Life Sciences companies in Berkeley
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founder | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pivot Bio 🦄 Developer of microbial nitrogen products designed for crop nutrition enhancement | $618M | 59 mo ago | 256 256 → 305 (+19%) | Alvin Tamsir Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer | WordPressApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+36 | 346 patents Engineered nitrogen‑fixing microbes and formulations for sustainable crop nitrogen delivery | 2 awards |
| 2 | Carmot Developer of disease-modifying therapies to treat metabolic diseases | $401M | 36 mo ago | 50 | Heather Turner CEO | — | — | — |
| 3 | Metagenomi Digital gene editing technologies for drug development | $376M | 42 mo ago | 11 | Brian Thomas CEO | DrupalPHPAcquia Cloud Platform+26 | 293 patents Advanced genome editing tools: engineered nucleases, CRISPR-Cas systems, and base editors. | — |
| 4 | Kyverna Therapeutics Developer of T-cell therapy for autoimmune disease | $322M | 34 mo ago | 96 96 → 160 (+67%) | — | DrupalApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+29 | — | — |
| 5 | Caribou Biosciences Provider of cell therapies to treat cancer and hematologic conditions | $157M | 35 mo ago | 92 92 → 128 (+39%) | Jennifer Doudna Co-Founder | DrupalPHPAcquia Cloud Platform+20 | 453 patents CRISPR-based gene editing tools and engineered immune cell therapies (CAR‑T, cytokine fusions). | — |
| 6 | Aduro LAAD based therapeutics against pancreatic, mesothelioma, high-grade glioma, lung and ovarian cancer. | $151M | 137 mo ago | 129 | Stephen T Isaacs Chairman | EnvoyAmazon Web Servicescore-js+4 | — | — |
| 7 | Aduro Biotech Developer of vaccines for cancer, infectious diseases and biodefense | $133M | 137 mo ago | — | Stephen Isaacs CEO | — | 360 patents STING pathway agonist small molecules and antibody‑conjugates for cancer immunotherapy | — |
| 8 | Ray Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics for degenerative retinal diseases 48Funding top 19%Growth top 35%Tech top 40%Moat top 42% All 7 signals ▾Fundingtop 19% Growthtop 35% Techtop 40% Moattop 42% Talentbottom 49% Globalbottom 39% Marketbottom 28% Funding: Raised $106M across 6 rounds · 6 rounds over 4 yrs (1.5/yr) Growth: Fresh capital in last 24 mo rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 48/100 | $106M | 2 mo ago | 10 | Paul Bresge Co-Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLMariaDB+21 | — | — |
| 9 | Aerovance Recombinant protein (IL-4 and IL-13 receptor antagonist) to treat asthma | $98M | 183 mo ago | — | Mark L. Perry President and CEO | — | 70 patents IL-4/IL-13 antagonist biologics and dry‑powder peptide aerosol formulations for respiratory diseases | — |
| 10 | Azalea Therapeutics Developer of precision genome engineering technologies for in vivo cell therapies 62Talent top 23%Funding top 26%Global bottom 33% All 3 signals ▾Talenttop 23% Fundingtop 26% Globalbottom 33% Talent: 6 named leaders on record · 6 C-suite/founder profiles curated Funding: Raised $82.0M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 3 yrs (0.7/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 62/100 | $82M | 7 mo ago | — | Jenny H Co-Founder | — | — | 1 expansion |
| 11 | Ansa Biotechnologies Provider of DNA synthesis technology using enzymes 74Growth top 26%Funding top 27%Patents top 27%Moat top 32% All 11 signals ▾Growthtop 26% Fundingtop 27% Patentstop 27% Moattop 32% Innovationtop 33% Newstop 38% Producttop 40% Markettop 41% Techtop 43% Talenttop 45% Globalbottom 47% Growth: Headcount 159 → 253 (+59%) across vintages · Fresh capital in last 24 mo Funding: Raised $82.0M across 5 rounds · 5 rounds over 8 yrs (0.6/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 74/100 | $82M | 8 mo ago | 253 | Sebastian Palluk Co-Founder & CTO | WordPress Block EditorWordPressApple iCloud Mail+27 | 32 patents Enzymatic nucleic acid synthesis and polymerase engineering for synthetic biology applications | 1 job opening · 1 award |
| 12 | Dynavax Developer of products to prevent and treat infectious and inflammatory diseases and cancer | $74M | 57 mo ago | 408 408 → 287 (-30%) | Ryan Spencer CEO | Apple iCloud MailSalesforceApache HTTP Server+13 | 2 patents Synthetic immunostimulatory oligonucleotides for vaccine adjuvant and therapeutic use | — |
| 13 | Actym Therapeutics Developer of immunotherapy solutions for cancer and other serious diseases | $60M | 32 mo ago | 50 | Christopher Thanos Co-Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 14 | Genedit Developer of drug delivery system for genetic medicines 53Funding top 28%Talent top 28%Product top 30%Patents top 31% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 28% Talenttop 28% Producttop 30% Patentstop 31% Innovationtop 34% Moattop 36% Marketbottom 41% Techbottom 40% Globalbottom 40% Funding: Raised $58.5M across 5 rounds · 5 rounds over 8 yrs (0.6/yr) Talent: Analyst team rating 4/5 rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 53/100 | $58M | 19 mo ago | 39 39 → 64 (+64%) | — | — | 73 patents Non‑viral cationic polymers for biomolecule delivery and engineered Cpf1 guide RNAs | — |
| 15 | Kimia Provider of a next generation drug discovery engine for mall molecule drugs | $55M | 30 mo ago | — | Jack Sadowsky Co-founder and VP | — | — | — |
| 16 | ExThera Medical Medical devices for the rapid treatment of bloodstream infections and pathogen-reduction in blood banking | $55M | 57 mo ago | 23 | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+23 | 151 patents Extracorporeal blood filtration and glycocalyx-modulating therapies for disease treatment | — |
| 17 | Lygos Manufacturer of green acids from microbes 64Moat top 26%Patents top 27%Funding top 30%Growth top 31% All 9 signals ▾Moattop 26% Patentstop 27% Fundingtop 30% Growthtop 31% Innovationtop 33% Techtop 40% Talentbottom 49% Marketbottom 48% Globalbottom 42% Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 8/10 · IP moat: 111 patents Patents: 111 patents matched (strict assignee match) · 56 filings since 2022 vs 49 in 2017-21 rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 64/100 | $52M | 14 mo ago | 63 | Eric Steen CEO & Co-founder | Builder.ioApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+21 | 111 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 18 | Pardes Biosciences Developer of therapeutics for pandemic diseases | $52M | 64 mo ago | 29 | — | — | 45 patents Cysteine protease inhibitor drugs for therapeutic applications | — |
| 19 | Slingshot Bioscience Developer of next-generation synthetic cells for diagnostics and therapeutics | $46M | 40 mo ago | 40 40 → 59 (+48%) | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+27 | — | — |
| 20 | Profluent Bio Provider of an artificial intelligence-based protein design platform 50Funding top 23%AI top 30%Talent top 33%Moat top 39% All 8 signals ▾Fundingtop 23% AItop 30% Talenttop 33% Moattop 39% Growthtop 45% Techbottom 45% Globalbottom 37% Marketbottom 28% Funding: Raised $44.0M across 3 rounds · 3 rounds over 3 yrs (1.0/yr) AI: Classified as an AI company · Product described with: artificial intelligence rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $44M | 7 mo ago | 10 | Alexander Meeske Co-Founder | WebflowApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+13 | — | 1 partnership |
| 21 | Valitor Developer of therapeutic proteins for multiple disease conditions | $38M | 44 mo ago | 4 | — | — | 47 patents Multivalent peptide/protein–hyaluronic acid conjugate therapeutics for cancer and ocular disease | — |
| 22 | Tierra Biosciences Provider of AI-based tools for development and custom synthesis of protiens | $32M | 27 mo ago | 11 | Zachary Sun Co-Founder | PrismicNode.jsstyled-components+14 | — | — |
| 23 | Nodexus Developer of microfluidic systems for the detection of metastatic cancer | $31M | 54 mo ago | 27 | Karthik Balakrishnan Co-Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+33 | 16 patents Integrated microfluidic particle sorting with combined electrical and optical detection systems | — |
| 24 | CellFE Developer of intracellular gene delivery platform | $27M | 32 mo ago | 22 | Todd Sulchek Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer | — | 30 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | 1 launch |
| 25 | XOMA Corporation Developer of antibody-based therapeutics for treating endocrine/metabolic diseases | $22M | 68 mo ago | 12 | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+23 | 789 patents Therapeutic peptide and antibody biologics targeting insulin receptor, IL-2, and reproductive health | — |
| 26 | Steep Hill Provider of cannabis testing and analytics services | $15M | 83 mo ago | 6 | — | — | — | — |
| 27 | YourChoice Therapeutics Developer of small-molecule contraceptive therapy for men and women | $15M | 47 mo ago | 4 | Akash Bakshi Chief Executive Officer | WixSentryEnvoy+12 | — | — |
| 28 | Cerene Provider of an endometrial ablation treatment for menorrhagia | $15M | 27 mo ago | 26 26 → 41 (+58%) | Ric Cote President and CEO | Cart FunctionalitySquarespace CommerceSquarespace+20 | — | 1 expansion |
| 29 | SonALAsense Developer of therapeutic solutions for treating cancer, neurological disorders & others | $14M | 14 mo ago | 10 | Stuart Marcus Md Founder and Chief Scientific Officer | WixSentryBootstrap+12 | 22 patents Ultrasound‑enhanced drug delivery targeting tumor metabolism in low‑grade cancers | — |
| 30 | Radar Therapeutics Developer of precision-expressed mRNA-based therapeutics for intractable diseases | $13M | 24 mo ago | — | Eerik Kaseniit Co-Founder | WebflowGSAPjQuery+7 | — | — |
| 31 | Qantgene Provider of cancer screening blood test for early detection | $12M | 64 mo ago | 73 | — | — | — | — |
| 32 | Insamo Developer of membrane-permeable and orally available cyclic peptides | $12M | 30 mo ago | — | Toby Passioura Co-Founder | — | — | — |
| 33 | Chameleon Biosciences Developer of gene delivery technology for pediatric disorders | $11M | 62 mo ago | 17 | — | — | — | — |
| 34 | Correlia Biosystems Developer of immunoassay platforms to quantify proteins for proteomics and pharmaceutical applications | $11M | 37 mo ago | 21 | — | — | — | — |
| 35 | Pow.Bio Provides intelligent fermentation services for industrial and synthetic biology | $10M | 32 mo ago | 24 | Shannon Hall Co-Founder | WebflowApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+10 | — | 2 awards |
| 36 | Editpep Developer of CRISPR-based therapeutics using a proprietary peptide-based delivery platform for targeted… | $8M | 18 mo ago | — | Dana Foss Co-Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 37 | Onyx Life Developer of an AI platform for precision medicine research studies | $8M | 4 mo ago | — | Amit Lakhani Co-Founder & CTO | Apple iCloud MailThree.jsReact+13 | — | — |
| 38 | Neurobehavioral Systems Provider of software tools to create behavioral and physiological experiments | $5M | 44 mo ago | 6 | Peter Pebler Co-Founder | MediaWikiCart FunctionalityPHP+18 | — | — |
| 39 | Cinder Biological Advanced heat and acid-stable enzymes for proteomics and industrial applications | $4M | 40 mo ago | 3 | Steven Yannone Founder and CEO | — | 12 patents Ultrastable enzymes for rapid biopolymer digestion in mass spectrometry and cleaning applications | — |
| 40 | Nexilico Developer of computational tools for microbiome analytics | $3M | 9 mo ago | 4 | Mohammad Soheilypour CEO | — | — | — |
| 41 | Survey Genomics Company specializing in spatial biology and single-cell multiomics | $3M | 13 mo ago | — | Sean Scott Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 42 | C. Light Technologies Developer of eye-tracking solution provider to detect and monitor neurodegenerative diseases | $3M | 13 mo ago | 6 | — | — | 105 patents Automotive camera vision systems for windshield imaging, low‑latency detection, and stereo depth processing. | — |
| 43 | NV Therapeutics Developer of gene writing technology for advanced gene therapies | $3M | 21 mo ago | — | Jacob Lamson Co-Founder | — | 1,872 patents Targeted protein degradation (PROTACs) and exosome-based therapeutics for disease treatment | — |
| 44 | CatenaBio Developer of antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of multiple diseases | $2M | 25 mo ago | 8 | Marco Lobba Co-Founder & CEO | — | — | — |
| 45 | ResVita Bio Developer of therapies to treat skin diseases through engineered skin probiotics | $2M | 14 mo ago | 4 | Jay Keasling Co-Founder | — | — | — |
| 46 | WellSIM Biomedical Technologies Developer of technologies for multi-omics single-cell analysis | $2M | 12 mo ago | 4 | Fei Liu Co-Founder | — | 17 patents Microfluidic platforms for extracellular vesicle isolation and multiplex biomarker profiling | — |
| 47 | EnChroma Provider of eyewear for color blind people | $1M | 25 mo ago | 21 | — | Shogun Page BuilderCart FunctionalityShopify+34 | 77 patents Color‑vision enhancement via optical filters and PVA‑coated contact lenses | 1 launch |
| 48 | BioAmp Diagnostics Developers of diagnostic tests that help to treat patient with a specific antibiotic | $1M | 14 mo ago | 6 | Nicole Tarlton Co-Founder | — | — | — |
| 49 | Synvivia Developer of molecular switches for precise control of enzyme activity by small molecules | $174K | 18 mo ago | 4 | Gabriel Lopez Founder & CEO | — | 6 patents Enhancing viral vector production using synthetic helper genes and engineered cyclic peptides. | — |
| 50 | Million Marker Provider of chemical exposure biomarker study for precision medicine | $150K | 21 mo ago | 13 | Jenna Hua Co-Founder | Cart FunctionalityShopifyAmazon Web Services+22 | — | — |
Top 12 Life Sciences companies in Berkeley
#1
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2021 · 10 employees$106Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics for degenerative retinal diseases. The lead candidate RAY-001 for Retinitis pigmentosa, RAY-002 for geography atrophy, and for other inherited retinal diseases.
- Apr 2026Series B$125M
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$8M
- Nov 2023Grant (prize money)$4M
- May 2023Series A$100M
#2
Series A · Berkeley, California · founded 2023$82Mraised▾
Developer of precision genome engineering technologies for in vivo cell therapies. The focus is on creating cancer immunotherapies directly inside the body. Their approach engineers T cells where they reside, utilizing Enveloped Delivery Vehicles (EDVs) to deliver genome engineering cargo. The anti-cancer agent is inserted into a precise site in the genome, modifying T cells against cancers. The goal is to develop next-generation delivery technologies for genetic engineering and cell therapies.
- Nov 2025Series A$65M
- 2023Seed$17M
#3
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2017 · 253 employees$82Mraised▾
Provider of DNA synthesis technology using enzymes. The company offers a chemical method and Next-generation technology for synthesis. Their technology is based on polymerase-nucleotide conjugates that have the ability to extend a DNA molecule by one building block at a time.
- Oct 2025Series B$54.4M
- Jun 2024Series A$46.4M
- Apr 2022Conventional Debt—
- Apr 2022Series A$68M
#4
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2022 · 10 employees$44Mraised▾
Provider of an artificial intelligence-based protein design platform. It uses deep generative models to design novel, functional proteins that can be used in drug discovery.
- Nov 2025Series B$106M
- Mar 2024Series A$35M
- Jan 2023Seed$9M
#5
Series A · Berkeley, California · founded 2023$8Mraised▾
Developer of an AI platform for precision medicine research studies. The platform integrates multiomics data with longitudinal patient records to deeply profile autoimmune diseases. Members can join research studies by sharing health records and samples. Life scientists and AI researchers analyze samples and health records to develop new medicines. Members may receive a portion of revenue generated using their data.
- Feb 2026Series A$8M
#6
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2011 · 63 employees$51.8Mraised▾
Manufacturer of green acids from microbes. It employs synthetic biology techniques to generate microbial catalysts to convert agricultural feedstocks into fine and commodity chemicals. Its high throughput screening and strain construction facilitate the optimization of pathways to convert the renewable feedstock to high-value chemicals. Its product portfolio includes malonic, lactic, isobutyric, aspartic, glyceric, and glycolic acids.
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)—
- Feb 2021Series B—
- Jul 2019Grant (prize money)$2M
- Apr 2019Series B$10.9M
#7
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2016 · 39 employees$58.5Mraised▾
Developer of drug delivery system for genetic medicines. The company has developed a NanoGalaxy platform that contains non-viral, non-lipid, polymer nanoparticles to deliver genetic medicines to the needed tissue to treat disease.
- Nov 2024Series B$35M
- Jan 2024Series A$24M
- Sep 2021Series A$26M
- Feb 2019Grant (prize money)$225K
#8
Series B · Berkeley, California · founded 2019 · 10 employees$13.7Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutic solutions for treating cancer, neurological disorders & others. It has developed a non-invasive drug-device combination therapy, ALA sonodynamic therapy for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme disease. It also offers ALA SDT that uses an MRI-guided focused ultrasound device together with a drug, aminolevulinic acid to provide a cancer-specific therapeutic effect. It mainly provides a noninvasive drug-device combination therapy for glioblastoma multiforme, & ALA sonodynamic therapy.
- Apr 2025Grant (prize money)$477K
- Jan 2025Grant (prize money)$1.9M
- Nov 2023Conventional Debt$15M
- Feb 2023Series B$9.8M
#9
Funding Raised · Berkeley, California · founded 2017 · 4 employees$3.5Mraised▾
Nexilico is a developer of computational tools for microbiome analytics for precision medicine. The company develops next-generation computational tools to understand the gut microbiome of individuals of patients for precision medicine.
- Sep 2025Grant (prize money)$1.6M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$1.6M
- Oct 2020Grant (prize money)$225K
#10
Acquired · Berkeley, California · founded 2008 · 50 employees$400.5Mraised▾
Developer of disease-modifying therapies to treat metabolic diseases. The company is pioneering a drug discovery platform, to identify novel incretin receptor signaling targets to develop a broad pipeline of therapeutics for metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes. The company has three clinical candidates including CT-388, CT-868, and CT-996.
- May 2023Series E$150M
- Jul 2022Series D$160.7M
- Sep 2020Series C$47M
- Jan 2018Series B$15M
#11
Public · Berkeley, California · founded 2018 · 96 employees$322Mraised▾
Developer of T-cell therapy for autoimmune disease. The therapeutic platform combines T-cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress and eliminate the autoreactive immune cells of inflammatory diseases.
- Aug 2023Series B$60M
- Jan 2022Series B$85M
- Nov 2021Series B$152M
- Jan 2020Series A$25M
#12
Seed · Berkeley, California · founded 2014 · 6 employees$3.2Mraised▾
C. Light Technologies develops clinical eye-tracking devices for neurological disease diagnostics. Its scanning laser ophthalmoscope combines hardware and software imaging of retinal function that boasts of accurate tracking. Claims its AI software can extract 120x more retinal scan and provide results. The company is exploring indications in traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. It has received an SBIR grant for traumatic brain injury and concussion diagnostics.
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$2.2M
- May 2025Grant (prize money)$2.2M
- Aug 2021Seed—
- Feb 2021Seed$2.5M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Life Sciences coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Biotechnology in Berkeley is moving
A read on the academic research around Biotechnology in Berkeley — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 81 papers.
Berkeley's UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory lead optimistically in microbial metabolic engineering, CRISPR, and biofuel research, with breakthroughs dominating and minimal concern.
- University of California, Berkeley57
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory41
- Berkeley College4
- Tsinghua–Berkeley Shenzhen Institute3
- Berkeley Public Health Division1
- Translation (biology)3
- DNA methylation3
- Gene3
- In vivo3
- Metabolic engineering3
- Biomass (ecology)2→3
- Biofuel3
- Biochemical engineering3
- Metabolic engineering3
- Synthetic biology3
- Renewable energy1